< • • i i Rare whale trapped off coast of Cape Cod BOSTON (AP) — A rare right whale swimming off Cape Cod has a rope deeply embed ded in both sides of its upper jaw and may not survive, marine sci entists said Sunday. The rope, a five-eighths- inch-diick plastic line, is cutting into the whale’s rostrum, or up per jaw, and has cinched around it, said David Manila of the Cen ter for Coastal Studies in Provincetown. “The first question is, will it survive if we don’t remove the entanglement? It’s pretty unlike ly from our experience,” Mani la said. “The rope will continue to irritate the whale and it will die of infection. “The second question is, will it heal if we get it out? That’s a long shot too, frankly,” he added. Matilla, director of the cen ter’s disentanglement team, said the whale is still feeding and ap pears to be in good health, but its prognosis is not good. Tissue around both sides of its mouth is dying or dead, evi dence that infection has set in. Matilla was part of a team that observed the huge mammal Sat urday and attached a telemetry buoy so marine scientists could track it. As of Sunday night, the whale was about 80 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, near Georges Bank. The whale is traveling north and is thought to be on its way to the Bay of Fundy. Rescuers do not know if it is a male or female. Rough conditions at sea will keep rescuers from going out Monday, Matilla said. But they will consult with veterinarian^ and marine biologists to plot their next step. Right whales frequent the Massachusetts coast in spring and fall. It is estimated there are just 300 of the animals left. The whale will remain endangered until the population is at least 1,200. The New England Aquarium in Boston estimates about 60 percent of right whales have scarring from fishing lines. “Lines can get wrapped around flippers or tails when feeding, especially with the right whale,” said Alison Glass of the Gloucester-based Whale Center of New England. Practice makes perfect BERNARDO GARZA/Th£ Battalion Art Thomason uses the empty parking lot at Reed Arena to practice for the upcoming X-trials competition in Bristol, Gonn. Thomason will be com peting in the flatland event and has beer riding for 14 years. Philippine government refuses to give ransom for the hostages ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AP) — Worried about feeding a cycle of kidnappings, the Philip pine government stood firm Sunday on its no ransom stance even as the clock was ticking on a deadline set by Muslim rebels threatening to kill three American hostages. Thousands of troops scoured the southern is land of Basilan, where the Abu Sayyaf rebels have said they will behead a Kansas couple and a Californian they held captive unless the Philip pine government appoints two Malaysians to negotiate their release. A rebel leader, Abu Sabaya, said Thursday that the deadline was after 72 hours, meaning PIZZA fpflPfl JOHNs Better Ingredients • Better Pizza Monday Special ”1 f 1 nrr 1 Topping Pizza Lillllllj Ever y Monda v Tuesday Special O I A nrr l Topping Pizzas ^ l AKhr Evegipday Lunch or Dinner no limit Pick-up only Pick-up or Deliver Northgate Post Oak Square Center Bryan 601 University Dr. 100 Harvey Rd., Suite D 3414 East 29th St. 979-846-3600 979-764-7272 979-268-7272 News in Brief Videotaping of McVeigh's death denied by court WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court, without comment, Sunday turned down a request to allow the videotaping of Timothy McVeigh's execution. The request, which had no bearing on McVeigh's case, had come from lawyers for a Pennsylvania man who could face the same method of execution. His lawyers argued the videotape could be helpful in their effort to show lethal injection is cruel and unusu al punishment, and there fore unconstitutional. The justice Department asked the high court not to allow the videotaping, say ing it would sensationalize the Oklahoma City bomber's death, scheduled for Monday morning. Tap ing also poses security and privacy problems, agency lawyers said. "In lightof the ubiquitous interest in the Oklahoma City bombing, the mere cre ation of a videotape of McVeigh's execution would present the government with unique challenges," Acting Solicitor General Bar bara Underwood wrote. Bush to visit Spain despite some protest MADRID, Spain (AP) — Thousands of Spaniards marched peacefully through downtown Madrid on Sunday to protest the up coming visit of President Bush. Demon strators car ried signs say ing “Bush G BUSH o Home” and criticized the president’s stance on the death penalty, the' envi ronment and trade, as they marched from Madrid’s Plaza de Espana to the Puerta del Sol square. Bush arrives Tuesday in the Spanish capital for talks with conservative Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar on the initial stop of his first major overseas trip. The six-day, five-nation tour will put Bush face to face with European leaders critical of his policies on missile defense, trade and the environment. In Spain, unions, anti-global- ization and anti-death penalty groups have planned several days of protests. Spanish foreign minister Josep Pique said Sunday he un derstood the desire to protest against capital punishment dur ing Bush’s visit because “unfor tunately in American society a majority is still in favor of the death penalty.” Police estimated more than 2,500 people attended the rally, filling the four-lane Gran Via boulevard for about an hour. A helicopter hovered overhead. At the Puerta del Sol, a baw , ner stretched across the \ v er’s platform said: “No to ir lor senior ventionism. No to neolibeS HoustOf globalization. No to the • r . -• r-u r * » PSemor mforr struction or the climate. R u'i'L • • i-n L nations mana 1 he visit ol Bush reprix .1 d Carren „ the evil image ot the Empt j in the Hou , union leader Adolfo Jinie.Sjp, e circur told the crowd. ounding Garr ‘VVe cannot hut condemn iot yet known cooperation of the Spanish? js his parents, eminent with the United Sq: barren of Wea by allowing American trooj> iot be reached Spanish bases, he added, i JS will be h( 3,500 Americans are static Wednesday a on military bases in Spain. B ted Methc The death penalty is a Weatherford, theme of anti-American sr §— st« ment in Spain, followingSs day’s return of a Spanish cin.Maint0 PI 2 who spent more than t b *| , usbl0c| f) years on death row in the I T ed States. Jb AN ANT0 “Thank you, Spain!”Joacf4-y e ar-old Jose Martinez said as he arrr«n was killei at Barajas airport. “Thereart ie was crushe words that can describe whn an office bu feel. All I can say is Tmc Police said J proud to be Spanish rights r 'fr> the eleva Last week, a Florida jui]| ^ some e< I l retrial acquitted Martinez a t° r acc ' d( double slayinu a ft er pleas • I ° n J'pP 0 Spanish King Juan Carlos the Madrid government.Tb sands of Spaniards contril rushed betw< nd the shaft looi door lev< Police are ii it would have passed Sunday afternoon. But in talks with a government negotiator, the rebels put the deadline at Monday. The exact time Monday was not announced. The guerrillas want the government — cur rently advised by three FBI hostage specialists — to bring in two Malaysian go-betweens who helped work out a deal for the release of foreign tourists taken hostage last year. Libya reportedly brokered that ransom deal involving millions of dollars, money the military says the rebels used to buy the arms and speed boats employed in the May 27 raid of a south western Philippine beach resort. Eight children killed in Japan school massaert IKED A, Japan (AP) Mourners surrounded Mayuko Isaka with her favorite things — candy, flowers and toys — at a funeral Sunday for the sunny 7- year-old. Later, schoolchildren watched as a hearse carried away her tiny casket. Mayuko’s funeral was one of five Sunday in this quiet suburb of Osaka, where eight children, I sow her in the morning. She was chirpy and warm. The next time I saw her, her body was cold.” Yoshitaka Isaka victim's father first- and second-graders, were knifed to death by a mentally disturbed former janitor two days earlier. “I saw her in the morning. She was chirpy and warm. The next time I saw her, her body was cold,” Mayuko’s father, Yoshitaka Isaka, said tearfully at her funeral. Police said Mamom Takuma, 37, walked into the Ikeda ele mentary school unimpeded Fri day and went classroom to class room slashing his victims until two teachers managed to re strain him 15 minutes later. “I thought I would be sen tenced to death if I kill many children of the elite and intelli gent,” Takuma later said, ac cording to police. At the funeral of another vic tim, 7-year-old Ayano Moriwa- ki, a framed picture of the girl to the defendant’s legal fee* | eath as an a , At the rally, demonstn condemned Monday’s sc ;UU TflGy, tiled execution of Time :hange c McVeigh, convicted inthi 3 enef j t fl lahoma Gity bombing, anc manded a new trial for Mi# HOUSTON Abu Jamal, the black U.S. itorm Allison' nalist sentenced to death were no t murder. and p The artists, Vaite, postpi on date of tf our to Aug. ; jp.the c.W. ^scheduled < Mefit for flc "Our hear eople of Ho st their lives teir propert rist Neal Sc Jhe first r ie 2001 At was flanked by flower bouftason hit and letters from her classnuiutheast Te After the service, a hearsecarde ground v ing her tiny casket droveoff:^ leaving v\ crematorium. Kyodo V 5 but up as i Agency said the funerals of ()Und paH en victims total were held in r °‘ 11; 1 , ci Ti e storm Osaka area Sunday. |e and Seven gir s and oneboyS;^ mi||jon 6 to 8 were killed, and liotfc, F| ooc |iny students and two teack e Arena T wounded. Eight victims invest Houstc reported in serious conditiotiesday's co making a steady recover)', Kan Dennis do said. It was Japan’s worst m killing since a deadly nerve! attack on Tokyo’s subways years ago and the latest ina ries of fatal slashings in acd try that has strict gun laws has prided itself on a lower rate. News reports said Takuma a man with a history of niei’j illness — launched his kil spree just hours before hew he interrogated about a fight year in a hotel in Osaka, Ja] second-largest city. He reportedly had taken times his daily dose of anti< pressants before the alleged tack. Investigators have sei; hatchet, a cutter knife and an pick as well as 300 unspecif tablets from Takuma’s hoi police said. Police said he also was ed two years ago on suspici slipping tranquilizers into tea of teachers at the elemei school where he worked. Media reports said he not charged because he deemed mentally unstai then was sent to a hospi where he was diagnosed schizophrenic and even released after treatment. mi